Westcliffe, CO

Lauren wrote:
Anyone ever spent any time there?

Hey Lauren,

Yup, been there as well! But it's been a while since I've been there. I was actually down there looking to buy some property, as it was quite cheap at the time, and from what I hear/read, it still is relatively. Didn't go through with it, though. Westcliffe and it's neighbour town Silver Cliff barely have 1000 between them, maybe up to around 1200 or so now. Not a lot of growth in that area; the whole county (Custer County) has slightly more than 4000 residents. The 2 towns were just a bit too small for me. It's about an hour drive west of Pueblo; Canon City isn't too far away.

There is, however, some incredibly beautiful scenery there. The Wet Mountains and the Sangre de Cristo mountains surround the towns, and it's a high valley, not unlike South Park around Fairplay, or Walden/Jackson County. Goodly elevation there as well, as I recall, Westcliffe is around 8000 feet or so. There's some hiking to be found in the Sangres, as you're on the back side of the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. Quite a few 14'ers in the Sangres. There's also some bike trails there IIRC.

There's a few commercial campgrounds in the area, but I can't give you any insight into how good they are. I know that there's some good reviews on them, and it's an area that I'd like to return to to visit; just a bit too isolated for me to consider anything longer term. Might be a great place to spend a week, if for nothing else than the scenery.